Starting Cross Season Two Weeks Early

Well, the 2006 Road Racing season is over. Not quite, I guess. The Henderson Time Trial is in two weeks, but as much as I like time trials and will be focusing on them heavily in 2007, it's not the same as a road race.

Gluek was a fun race. A huge thanks to Loon States Cyclists for putting on yet another great event. Friday I went out to warm up and get the kinks out of my legs, since I hadn't ridden since Tuesday at the track. Ok, it's been a LONG time since I did a serious ride on the road. I've done several recovery rides, but not really put forth even an endurance ride effort for a couple of weeks due to the time spent at the track and my crash. I was concerned about my endurance for Saturday and whether I would have any problems. I resolved NOT to check my training log to see how long it had been since I rode more than 90 minutes on the road until AFTER the race.

Turned out to be no problem. An absolutely beautiful day. Perfect weather, perfect temperature. I was nervous at the beginning, especially when I started lining up and realized that the field had 72 riders! But it was sure nice to see everyone, and I decided it would be ok.

And it was. I stayed out of the wind for the whole race until the last kilo or so and a couple times up the climb. The climb never felt too hard, although my legs did start cramping the last time up. I jumped on one attack that had Charlie Townsend and another SPBRC rider in it, but they didn't stay out, so we just rolled back into the group. I think they were testing to see who would go and who could hang with them.

So, I raced smart (for a change). I think that I race smarter when I go into the race without a lot of expectations, or when I have doubts about my ability. When I'm feeling ampped and strong, I get impatient, and then I do stupid stuff, like pulling for 40 miles.

There was a sharp right turn 200 meters from the start finish line. At about 750 meters, I jumped hard and put the hammer down. There was a Gopher Wheelmen rider who was next to me and looked like he was working pretty hard, and I didn't want to get caught up in a pack in the corner. I gapped him off a little, but needless to say, Charlie was waiting for just such a move.

I was probably doing close to 40 MPH, spinning a 52x12 at 120+ RPMs. Charlie jumped around me about 50 meters from the corner and lined up to make the turn. I had left some in reserve and I was ready to hammer the last 200 meters. It was one lap to go at the velodrome.

unfortunately, we were both going WAY too fast. Charlie swung all the way left, and I followed him. His rear tire skidded out on the exit to the turn, which left him standing still right where I needed to be to make the corner. I probably would have skidded out, too except for the fact we both ended up in the alfalfa field. At least we were both upright and laughing! If I'd been thinking harder, I probably could have rolled back onto the road and picked up a couple of places, but I even unclipped and wheeled over to see how Charlie was. Matt Anderson, the lead official, came by in the chase car and says "Nice job keeping it up right guys". I still don't know if he was kidding.

I would have been much more disappointed if I had been counting on a good finish for the race, but I learned what I needed to: that I am still in the top 5 riders in our group and might even be ready for 35+. The race really wasn't that hard. I'm going to have to start riding road races like a sprinter. Keep out of the wind. Watch the moves and set up for the finish.

Needless to say, I got quite a bit of crap about the Cyclecross season being a couple of weeks out yet. I'm not a Cyclecross rider, although it would be good for my bike handling probably. And I need a rest. Three more weeks of track season. Just enough time to get a top 3 in the omnium. I've got the burn to win again. The main thing this race did for me was get me back on the map mentally after my crash. I'm psyched. I want to win. And I'm ready to hammer.